Front Porch: One truth to bank on: There’s no greater calling than to share kindness

A few days before Thanksgiving, I had one of those too-much-too-little days.

Too much traffic, too many crowded stores and too little time between appointments. I pulled into my bank’s parking lot and noticed the drive-thru line was several cars deep. I decided to park and go inside. Both tellers were helping people, but I was next in line.

While I tapped my foot and glanced at my watch, the teller nearest me engaged in a long conversation with an older gentleman named Jimmy. Honestly, I was annoyed that they were still chatting when his business concluded, and the line grew behind me.

Then I tuned into their conversation. It sounded like Jimmy’s wife was dying and might not make it to Christmas.

“I’m so sorry, Jimmy,” the teller said, patting his hand.

The urgency of my errands and appointments paled as I thought of a friend facing her first Christmas without her husband. Another just lost her dad. Yet another is grieving his mom.

And Jimmy?

Maybe this was the first time he’d been able to tell someone what his holidays looked like. Maybe this was the first time someone slowed down enough to listen.

Blinking back tears, I finished my banking and left, but not before noting the teller’s name.

I’m thankful for kind people like Rayna at Chase Bank. And I’m grateful for humbling encounters like this to remind me that while I’m rushing from one appointment to the next, hurting people are all around me, and there’s no greater calling than kindness.

As soon as I had a break that day, I phoned and asked to speak to the branch manager. Too often, we’re quick to call to complain instead of compliment. I wanted to let them know about their stellar employee.

The manager was gone for the week, so I sent an email. But Rayna answered the phone, and I got to tell her how much witnessing her kindness inspired me.

During the holidays, many of us feel the pinch of those too-much-too-little days, but kindness is one thing we can never have too much of.

Readers share pet names

In a recent column, I invited readers to share the names of their pets.

Larry Plager said they call their cat Kitty, but I like her alternate name better.

“Sometimes we call her PersnicKitty,” he wrote.

Jen Edgren adopted a shelter dog called Amos.

“He was renamed – with the help of my brother, sister, and niece – after our nephew Nico. As I reflected on both of those names, I thought, maybe his official name should be Nico d’Amos!” she wrote.

That got her thinking about her beloved dog Lucy whom she lost shortly before adopting Nico.

“When I adopted Lucy from the shelter, her name was Mona. Perhaps I should have named her The Mona Lucy! I also have a dog Joey, whose name was King. King Joey!?”

Beverly Gibb loves whippets – she’s on her fourth. Her mother adored the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” and suggested she name her first whippet, Holly Golightly.

“After Holly, there was Bentley. At the time, I had no idea a Bentley was a car,” wrote Gibb. “The third was Mercedes Gems as her parents were Star and Diamond – a play on Mercedes Benz. She also had the Mercedes emblem on her butt!”

Her current dog is Jack Whippet.

“While they all had their individual personalities, Jack is the love of my life,” she said.

Nancy Kiehn didn’t get creative with pet names. When a stray orange tabby adopted her family, he became Orange Kitty. When they acquired two kittens, a tuxedo and a tiger-striped tabby, she christened the tuxedo Blackie and the tabby Stripes.

“Our adult daughter said it’s a good thing we had a bit more creativity when she and her brother were born, or else they would have forever been known as Boy and Girl,” Kiehn said.

Cindy Hval can be reached at dchval@juno.com. Hval is the author of “War Bonds: Love Stories from the Greatest Generation” (Casemate Publishers, 2015) available at Auntie’s Bookstore and bookstores nationwide.